If you were able to look up the definition of a back-n-forth game on google, you might just receive a free copy of Thursday night’s game between the Bulls and Heat. In the first quarter, Chicago started out with a good inside game, on both the rebounding and scoring side as they jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. The Heat then turned on the jets. In an exhibition of speed that we have rarely seen this year, Miami started running fast-break after fast-break. At one point, LeBron James had three buckets in a row on the break, two of which were thunderous dunks that turned the Bull’s fans boos into oohs. The first quarter ended with the Heat ahead, 31-23.

During the rest of the game, there were several runs by each team. This is no surprise. In the NBA, even bad teams make runs and when there are two of the top teams playing, you can be sure that both will have periods of the game where they gain control. In this game, it wasn’t any one run that should worry a Heat fan, but instead, the final score is the cause for concern. The Bulls came away victorious, 93-89, for multiple reasons. Chris Bosh had the worst shooting performance of any NBA starter in 35 years, going 1 of 18 from the field. Nobody outside of the Heat starting five contributed anything. The entire bench scored 2 points combined. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both had very good games, but both superstars made poor decisions during the final 20 seconds of the game. DWade left Luol Deng with enough space to have a martini before canning a three, and James decided he might as well aim for Cleveland as he chucked up a wild three, when there was still over ten seconds left on the clock. Any one of the above listed problems would be no problem for Miami, but when you add them all together, the result is another loss to a top tier team.

The Miami Heat have struggled mightily this season with the NBA’s best teams. This game was one that Miami could’ve or should’ve won, but in the end, they didn’t. Are there reasons for another loss? Yes. Should fans listen to them? No. In sports, winning is one of those things that is considered contagious. Once a team starts to win, the confidence level builds up and that team continues to play well and consequently, continues to win. Unfortunately, another part of the game that is contagious is excuse making. If a team continues to find reasons for losing certain games, they continue losing. It doesn’t matter if some of the reasons are valid, such as injuries or an isolated bad performance like Bosh’s 1 for 18, those reasons become excuses, then losing becomes accepted. I am not trying to paint the Heat as losers. This is one of the best teams in the NBA, but they cannot continue to come up short against good teams during the regular season and then just expect to beat those same teams in the playoffs, just because it’s the playoffs. Teams like Boston and Chicago are constructed perfectly to take down this Heat team. So far, that is exactly what they have done.